The invention relates to enhancements in cellular telephone terminal automatic recall and dialing capabilities in addition to enhancements in personal organizer software used in computer telecommunications applications.
Cellular telephones are becoming ubiquitous accessories in our mobile society and provide opportunities to remain in communication away from principal work and residence locations. Complexity of modern life has led to cellular telephones with extensive stored directories, so that what was once carried in a personalized telephone book is now stored in the digital memory of a cellular telephone terminal, with multiple voice, fax computer and pager numbers often being associated with a single person.
The increasing ability of manufacturers to move to smaller and more integrated components and packaging, as well as consumer demand for portability has led to decreased size and weight with each generation of cellular telephone terminals. Moreover, reduced display costs and power consumption are allowing manufacturers to put higher resolution displays in cellular telephone terminals with more information display capability. In addition to displaying personal telephone directories, these displays have become capable of displaying other information such as reminders, anniversaries or appointments, and the like. The decreased size and increased storage of information requirements conflict from a user interface standpoint, however. Entering a lengthy directory with possible subdirectory structures using a standard cellular dialing pad is an onerous task.
At the same time, there has been a remarkable growth in desktop and mobile personal computers used for the organization and storage of information. Personal organizer software supports extensive storage of telephone directories as well as other information necessary for many individuals. This software focuses on the ease of inputting data through specialized graphical user interfaces and integration with other telecommunications applications. Further, computer telephony integration has motivated the creation and maintenance of computer telephone directories with an ease of updating these directories through keyboards, cursor control devices and graphical user interface input features which do not exist on cellular telephone terminals.
Accordingly, there is a great contrast between entering and maintaining information on a personal computer with a large screen, keyboard, mouse and database interfaces and entering and maintaining information on a cellular telephone terminal having a small display and reduced size dialpad. The end result has been that little information beyond telephone information is stored in a telephone terminal Further, due to the difficulty in inputting telephone terminal data, the synchronization of the telephone terminal directories with those in personal computer databases is a continual problem since it is rare for a user to keep the telephone terminal current by regularly adding and deleting names and numbers in the telephone terminal.
It is known from the prior art that telephone sets and similar apparatuses may be remotely programmed. Examples of such remote programming operations are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,788,720, 5,297,191 and 5,297,192. Such operations do not address the need to personally configure and frequently update user information available at a telephone terminal, however. It is now technically feasible and desirable to provide a cellular telephone terminal that allows increased storage of information therein while providing ease of input and maintenance of the information.
The prior art problem is solved in accordance with the present invention by providing a user of a cellular telephone terminal with a remotely programmable capability wherein the ease of data entry and organization provided by personal computer input devices and telecommunications applications are combined with the general utility of a portable cellular telephone terminal.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, the cellular telephone terminal serves as a portable information storage and retrieval device for data stored in and transmitted to the terminal from the personal computer. The computer and associated input devices and screens, local and network databases and interfaces to personal organizer software all allow ease of input and maintenance of the information. A communications path between the personal computer and the telephone terminal is advantageously provided for periodically transferring the information from the personal computer to the telephone terminal. The cellular telephone terminal is thus provided access to information such as a dialing directory, appointments, reminders, etc. that is easily inputted and conveniently stored in the terminal.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, a network platform communicates with the computer via an analog modem and with a digital cellular telephone via a digital modem while providing a translation between these two systems and exploiting an existing wired and wireless network telecommunication infrastructure. Use of the existing infrastructure has the benefit of permitting a rapid exchange of information using standard and existing protocols. Undesired information and interference from third parties through the cellular network is avoided by requiring the user to configure the cellular terminal into a data download mode and also allowing the user to control the information and time of the download from the personal computer to the telephone terminal.